S-T: Questions persist on Wareham selectman's seat
By CAITLIN RUSSELL
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
April 03, 2012 12:00 AM

WAREHAM — Wareham voters head to the polls today to fill two seats on the Board of Selectmen, even though the town has yet to get state approval for one of them.

One of the open seats had been held by Michael Schneider, who, on Feb. 8, submitted his resignation, effective March 31. He resigned past the time when the town could simply put the vacancy on the ballot.

Instead, Wareham was left to choose between holding a special election or petitioning the state to put Schneider's seat on the April 3 ballot. Town officials picked the latter but had received no word back as of Monday as to whether election results will be binding.

On the ballot are two candidates for the remaining two years of Schneider's seat: Peter Teitelbaum, who currently serves on the Minot Forest Committee; and local businessman Amit Johar.

Teitelbaum said, "What I'm doing at this point is running my campaign with the assumption that this (state approval) will get done," but the winning candidate will not be sworn in until it has been approved.

He said one of the big issues facing Wareham at Town Meeting is whether to approve a Proposition 2½ override for the school's budget. "The good thing about all this is that they've packaged them as debt exclusions," so they can consider each on their own merits, Teitelbaum said.

Transportation is one of the items up for debt exclusion, but Teitelbaum said he is awaiting a report from the School Bus Study Committee before he decides his position.

Amit Johar is running under the slogan "Progress over Politics." Johar's family owns a business in Wareham, and although he came under some fire for allegedly not living in town, the complaint was thrown out. As of Monday afternoon, he had not returned calls.

Seeking the three-year selectman's term are Bruce Savaugeau, Alan Slavin and David Smith.

Savaugeau, who previously served seven years on the Board of Selectmen, but lost a 2010 re-election bid, was interviewed by phone from his hospital bed, where he is being treated for an illness. He said he hopes to be discharged today so he can get out and vote.

With regard to the Proposition 2½ override, he said, "The issue for me is process. The School Committee is well aware of the process; they're supposed to sit down with the Town Administrator ... this for me has been an end run around that entire process, and a 15 percent budget increase." He said that if elected, he would vote against placing it on the ballot. However, he supports getting the Westfield housing project going as soon as possible to bring in revenue.

Slavin said while he doubts the Proposition 2½ override will pass at Town Meeting, he will vote to put it on the ballot for the entire town to vote on. "At least let it go on the ballot ... the selectmen shouldn't make that decision "¦ I don't see how anyone could object to a town-wide ballot."

As far as economic development, he said, "You can't just turn the spigot on in one day ... the economy is dictating what happens." If elected, he hopes to set policies that are business-friendly and that will help the Community and Economic Development Authority reach out to investors.

Smith currently serves on the Board of Assessors, the Bike Path Committee and CEDA. He said he believes that the lines of communication have not always been as open as they should be between citizens and selectmen.

"My main goal is to be able to communicate with the people of Wareham ... find out their needs instead of someone with an agenda's needs," said Smith. "There's obviously a question about things like Walmart ... I know what the outspoken minority thinks, but not the majority."